Growth and production of Anogeissus latifolia Wall under silvipastoral system in semiarid region of central India.

摘要

A 5-year (1998-2002) field experiment was conducted at the National Research Centre for Agroforestry, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India, to determine the initial age of pruning of Anogeissus latifolia, its optimum pruning intensity, and its impact on understorey production under silvopastoral system on degraded lands. The growth and production potential of 3-year-old A. latifolia-based silvopastoral system was studied with Chrysopogon fulvus as a grass and Stylosanthes hamata as a legume component. The treatments consisted of the initiations of pruning (4th, 5th and 6th year after plantation); three pruning intensities (25, 50 and 75% of the total height of the tree); and two control (unpruned trees with pasture and pasture without trees). Results revealed that there were no significant differences in growth parameters (height, diameter at breast height (dbh) and canopy diameter) due to various treatments. The mean annual increment (MAI) for height and dbh of A. latifolia ranged from 72 to 80 cm and 0.79 to 0.90 cm, respectively, which was above average growth due to better planting material. The dry leaf fodder and fuelwood increased as the pruning intensity increased. The differences were significant in 1999, 2000 and 2001 in case of fuelwood production. On an average production of leaf fodder and fuelwood was maximum when pruning was initiated during the 5th year of plantation of trees at all pruning intensities. The dry forage yield of understorey herbage significantly increased with increase in pruning intensities. However, forage yield from pure pasture gave significantly higher yield than other pruning treatments. The pooled forage yield obtained under pruned trees increased by 19, 24 and 38% under 25, 50 and 75% pruning, respectively over unpruned trees..